


Now There's An Unlikely Duo

by GoodHoonter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, idk where this is going so it will be an adventure for all of us lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28892481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodHoonter/pseuds/GoodHoonter
Summary: The war has ended and Harry and his friends are returning to Hogwarts to retake their disaster seventh year. Harry is excited to have a totally normal and fun year at Hogwarts (for once).Yet, for some reason, he keeps getting distracted by his ex-nemesis Draco Malfoy, who has become oddly pleasant since before the war. After having enough conversations, they unexpectedly become friends. Or is that all they become?! Stick around to find out!
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Kudos: 6





	Now There's An Unlikely Duo

A few days before the start of September, Harry Potter was visiting a number of shops in Diagon Alley.

It was several months after the end of the war, and the wizarding community had adapted quite well to the new, more peaceful state of affairs.

Seeing as the previous school year had been compromised by Death Eaters and no proper education had taken place, the new headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall, had decided along with the rest of the Hogwarts staff to allow all seventh years to return and repeat their final year, citing the fact that every student deserved a chance to take their NEWTs and finish their education.

Which led to Harry, currently walking along the main road in Diagon Alley with a bag slung over his shoulder that held his newly bought supplies. Harry had already bought everything he needed except for his textbooks, so he began to make his way to Flourish and Blotts. 

Harry thought about how different the following year would be, relative to his previous experiences at Hogwarts, in the sense that it would be the first year he attends Hogwarts and doesn’t have to watch his back because a madman is intent on murdering him. Harry had learned early on—back in his first year, when he had discovered that Voldemort was _on_ Hogwarts grounds, that even at Hogwarts he was never completely safe—that his experience at Hogwarts wasn't exactly the norm. And every year from then onwards had only seemed to solidify that in Harry’s mind: he would never get to have an average, uneventful year at Hogwarts, thanks to Voldemort.

Which was why Harry was actually excited for the following school year. Finally, a chance to relax and appreciate Hogwarts, after everything they had been through, and to savor his final months as a student before life at Hogwarts was officially over. Hopefully, there would be no more running around this year—unless it was due to having had one too many rounds of firewhiskey. He was looking forward to just relaxing, taking in the sights of the castle and grounds, and spending time with his friends.

With that thought in mind, Harry opened the door to Flourish and Blotts and stepped inside the store. Once inside, he immediately felt a sense of privacy due to the tall, massive bookshelves taking up most of the space, blocking off any sight beyond the shelves. Both the store and the street outside were mostly devoid of people, as Harry had purposefully chosen to visit at a time when he knew people-traffic would be low. He appreciated the quiet atmosphere, since it was still only a few months since the war had ended—Harry was often randomly accosted on the streets by strangers, which he was trying to avoid.

He approached the side of the store that had educational books (which was over half of the store), checking his list for the authors and titles of the books he needed. He found them one by one and pulled them off of their shelves. When he had almost found all of the books, he turned the corner to the next aisle, and immediately froze.

There, perusing the spines of books, was none other than Draco Malfoy.

Harry felt momentarily transfixed, as he hadn’t seen Malfoy in months and wasn’t sure how he should react to his unexpected presence. The last time Harry had seen Malfoy had been at his trial, where Harry had testified in favor of him, telling the court how Draco had recognized him when he was captured and brought to Malfoy Manor yet had refused to reveal his identity, as well as what really happened on the Astronomy Tower the night of Dumbledore's death. Harry also testified at his mother Narcissa’s trial by telling the court that she had saved his life when she lied on his behalf to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.

Draco had gotten off free of charge due to his status as a minor at the time, helping Harry and showing clear regret for his actions, while Narcissa had been sentenced to two years of house arrest. Of course, even though Harry had technically _seen_ Draco and they had even made eye contact a couple of times, they never got the chance to speak, neither before nor after the trial, and Harry hadn’t stuck around for too long afterwards to try. 

Lucius Malfoy, meanwhile, had managed to weasel his way out of an Azkaban sentence by turning over every Death Eater name he could think of to the Wizengamot, and was only sentenced to ten years of house arrest, which Harry thought was more than fair, considering that Lucius was responsible for his family’s involvement with Voldemort in the first place. The last that Harry had heard, Lucius and Narcissa were both living out their sentences at the Malfoy Manor, which seemed to Harry like a comfortable enough price to pay for what they'd done. 

Harry took a closer look at Malfoy, who somehow still hadn’t noticed him staring at him; oddly enough, his first thought was that, if he hadn’t already known Malfoy, and had Malfoy been a stranger to him, Harry would have described him as _handsome_. He seemed to have grown a couple of inches since Harry had seen him last—making him, officially, noticeably taller than Harry, were they to stand closer to one another. For some reason, Harry couldn’t bring himself to feel particularly bothered by this, where usually he would feel some small amount of envy.

He was still mostly sharp angles, from his brow ridge to his cheekbones to his long limbs; except, the features Harry once would have described as pointy had become graceful lines and angles. From where Harry was standing, he could see his profile clearly where it stood in contrast to the light coming in from the window overhead, and Malfoy’s previously pointy chin and pointy face, that just a few years ago Harry had wanted to punch so badly, now seemed elegant, and really it would be a waste to ruin by punching it. He was dressed in casual wizarding robes that were mostly black except for the silver trim; they seemed to be made of expensive quality and were fitted perfectly to his figure.

Realizing that he probably looked fucking creepy, just standing there staring, and that it was nothing short of a miracle that Malfoy hadn’t noticed him yet, Harry tried to move away as discreetly as he could. But perhaps the only reason Malfoy hadn’t been alerted had been Harry’s lack of movement, because his attention immediately snapped up to Harry, who was now caught hovering awkwardly in the aisle.

“Oh. Er. Hello,” said Harry, with as much grace as he could muster despite his awkwardness. He shuffled a bit closer, cursing himself for his lack of tact.

Malfoy, who, similar to Harry was holding a small stack of books in one arm, took a few moments to take Harry in (probably taken aback somewhat by his presence) which then made Harry momentarily self-conscious. (What exactly had he decided to wear today again? He usually picked the first things his hands could find out of his wardrobe, so he honestly wasn't sure without looking down.)

Eventually, Malfoy replied, with much less malice than Harry had anticipated, “Hello, Potter. Here to buy your textbooks as well?”

At first floundering for a moment how exactly he should respond, unused to having so civil a conversation with Malfoy, Harry eventually settled on, “Yes…so you’re going back to Hogwarts too? That’s good.”

Oh hell, Harry thought in a mild panic, this conversation was quickly turning into the dreaded, stale, dry _small talk_. This wasn’t good. Harry thought desperately of something more interesting to say, but Malfoy beat him to the punch and exacerbated the situation with even _more_ small talk.

“How have you been?” asked Malfoy, and although his tone and facial expression were mostly mild (which Harry was still becoming accustomed to), the slight wincing of his eyes told Harry that Malfoy was also aware that their conversation’s status was headed into boring, polite territory.

“I’ve been good. How about yourself?”

“I have been well.”

“…”

“…”

They descended into silence, and it seemed they were both unsure how to continue the conversation. As Harry searched once more for words to say to the newly mild-mannered Malfoy, he couldn’t help but notice how striking Malfoy looked now that they were closer. He had been struck by his piercing grey eyes while they had been exchanging words, and now Harry’s gaze wandered and he couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast of Malfoy’s pale skin against his dark clothes, and Harry could catch a glimpse of his slender, graceful neck just beyond his collar...He quickly snapped his gaze to the side, his cheeks heating up; he hoped that Malfoy hadn’t noticed him staring.

Harry was trying really hard not to look too much into that one; he wasn’t sure he was prepared to know the answer as to why he had become momentarily transfixed by the boy in front of him—or was it more accurate to call him a man? Because they were both adults now, weren’t they? Although Harry at times didn’t quite feel ready to be an adult. Hadn’t he already shouldered more responsibilities as a child than most adults did in their lifetimes? Perhaps it was high time for him to be irresponsible, for a change.

Thinking about the past seven years made Harry think of the war, then, and about the man in front of him, and how far apart their situations had been at the time. Yet, despite being on the other side of a war, Malfoy had helped Harry in his own way, when he had been asked to identify Harry and had chosen to lie. Suddenly, Harry had a flashback to the brief wrestling that had ensued between them that day, during the battle; when he had ripped Malfoy’s wand out of his hand, the same wand which he had used for several weeks; the same wand he had used to finally defeat Voldemort; the same wand which Harry had stashed in his bedside drawer in Grimmauld Place at the end of the war and not thought seriously about returning to its owner in weeks; and from _that_ train of thought, apropos of nothing Harry blurted out, “I have your wand!”

He mentally kicked himself. Malfoy blinked at him for just a moment, caught off guard, before understanding dawned on his face. His eyes then narrowed somewhat, seemingly in thought, making him resemble a bit more the Malfoy that Harry was more familiar with. “Oh?”

“Yes. That is to say,” Harry rushed to explain, “I don’t have it on me right now—it’s at home—but I’ve been meaning to return it to you. Er…since school only starts in a couple of days, how about I give it to you then? Unless you want it sooner.”

Malfoy shook his head silently, as he considered Harry for a long moment. He replied, “I can wait a few days. It’s fine if you give it to me then.”

Harry nodded, and they descended into silence once more. Malfoy shifted the textbooks he was holding to his other arm, which caused the sunlight that was streaming from the overhead window to glance off of Malfoy’s pale, white-blonde hair so that it glowed golden. Harry was struck by the vividness of the color, and admired it for a few moments, before his eyes snapped to Malfoy’s face to see him looking at Harry with a partly confused and partly curious expression.

Harry panicked and blurted out, “Well, I’ve gotten all of my books, so I'll see you at school!” and practically flew out of the aisle, feeling his cheeks burning and hoping that Malfoy didn’t think too much of how Harry had chosen to end their exchange. That had clearly been a normal way to end their conversation.

He went to buy the books he was carrying, even though what he’d said to Malfoy was a total lie and he didn’t yet have all the books he needed—he was still missing two from the list. He was too startled, though, from the interaction to go back to searching, where he might run into Malfoy again and have to have yet another awkward exchange that he wasn’t prepared for. Harry figured that he would come back tomorrow to buy the rest of the books. It wasn’t like he had anything more important to do, anyway.

On his way back to the Leaky Cauldron to Floo back to Grimmauld Place, Harry impulsively stopped by an accessory store that sold leather pouches of different sizes and patterns. He bought a warm brown one that he thought looked nice and seemed to be made of good quality, that also seemed the right size for a wand, and went to the seller to purchase it before Flooing back home.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter: Harry and Draco return to Hogwarts, and Harry tries to find an opportunity to give Draco his wand back. 
> 
> I will try to update as soon possible. Thank you for reading! :D


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